A brief survey of Byzantine history
拜占庭的歷史簡(jiǎn)述 （第二部分）

（接上）

????????? The defeats and territorial contraction which resulted from the expansion of Islam from the 640s in the east, on the one hand, and the arrival of the Bulgars and establishment of a permanent Bulgar Khanate in the Balkans from the 680s, on the other, radically altered the political conditions of existence of the east Roman state. The Balkans up to the Danube were claimed by the empire, and when imperial armies appeared, the local, predominantly Slav, chieftains and leaders acknowledged Roman authority. But this lasted only as long as the army was present. The Bulgars were a new element whose nomadic military organisation and technology enabled them quickly to establish a political hegemony over the region south of the Danube delta, from which their Khans rapidly expanded their power, so that by the end of the 7th century they were a substantial threat to imperial claims in the region.

（從640年代開始伊斯蘭教在東部的擴(kuò)張導(dǎo)致了戰(zhàn)敗和領(lǐng)土收縮，一方面，保加爾人的到來以及從680年代開始在巴爾干半島建立了永久的保加爾汗國，另一方面，從根本上改變了東羅馬國家的政治狀況。巴爾干半島到多瑙河都是羅馬帝國的領(lǐng)土，當(dāng)?shù)蹏婈?duì)出現(xiàn)時(shí)，當(dāng)?shù)刂饕撬估蛉说氖最I(lǐng)和領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人承認(rèn)了羅馬的權(quán)威。但這種情況只持續(xù)到有軍隊(duì)在場(chǎng)的時(shí)候。保加利亞人是一個(gè)新民族，其游牧軍事組織和技術(shù)使他們能夠迅速在多瑙河三角洲以南地區(qū)建立政治霸權(quán)，他們的可汗由此迅速擴(kuò)大了他們的權(quán)力，因此到7世紀(jì)末他們成為對(duì)該地區(qū)的帝國權(quán)力構(gòu)成重大威脅。）

????????? The resulting transformation of state administrative structures produced an army that was based almost entirely on defensive principles, for which offensive warfare became a rarity until the middle of the 8th century, and which was encouraged by the imperial government to avoid pitched battles and open confrontation with enemy forces wherever possible. The field armies of the late Roman state were transformed in effect into provincial militias, although a central core of full-time 'professional' soldiers seems always to have been maintained by each regional military commander. A strategy of guerilla warfare evolved in which enemy forces were allowed to penetrate the borderlands before being cut off from their bases and harried and worried until they broke up or were forced to return to their own lands. Byzantine officers conducted a 'scorched earth' policy in many regions, and local populations in endangered regions were encouraged to keep lookouts posted, so that they could gather their livestock and other movable possessions and take refuge in mountain fortresses, thereby depriving enemy units of forage and booty. Although individual emperors did launch offensive expeditions in the period c,660-730, these were generally designed to forestall a major enemy attack into Roman territory in Asia Minor, or had a punitive nature, designed more as ideologically motivated revenge attacks on important enemy targets, and with no lasting strategic value {although they did have implications for military morale). Although a few notable successes were recorded, many of them failed and resulted in substantial defeats and loss of men and materials. The differentiation between different arms at the tactical level between light arid heavy cavalry or infantry, archers, lancers or spearmen - appears to have lessened, surviving only in a few contexts, associated with imperially maintained elite units. Byzantine armies and Arab armies looked very much the same.

（國家行政結(jié)構(gòu)的轉(zhuǎn)變使得帝國產(chǎn)生了一支幾乎完全基于防御原則的軍隊(duì)，直到8世紀(jì)中葉，進(jìn)攻戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)才變得罕見，帝國政府鼓勵(lì)盡可能避免與敵軍激戰(zhàn)和公開對(duì)抗。羅馬晚期國家的野戰(zhàn)軍實(shí)際上轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)槭〖?jí)民兵，盡管每個(gè)地區(qū)軍事指揮官似乎始終保持著全職“專業(yè)”士兵的核心。游擊戰(zhàn)的戰(zhàn)略演變?yōu)?，允許敵軍在被切斷基地之前滲透到邊境地區(qū)，并在他們解體或被迫返回自己的土地之前焦急不安。拜占庭軍官在許多地區(qū)實(shí)行“焦土”政策，鼓勵(lì)瀕危地區(qū)的當(dāng)?shù)鼐用裨O(shè)置瞭望臺(tái)，以便他們可以收集牲畜和其他可動(dòng)財(cái)物，并在山上避難，從而剝奪敵方部隊(duì)的糧食和戰(zhàn)利品。盡管個(gè)別皇帝確實(shí)在 660-730 年期間發(fā)動(dòng)了進(jìn)攻性遠(yuǎn)征，但這些通常旨在阻止敵人對(duì)小亞細(xì)亞羅馬領(lǐng)土的重大進(jìn)攻，或者具有懲罰性質(zhì)，更多地設(shè)計(jì)為出于意識(shí)形態(tài)動(dòng)機(jī)對(duì)重要敵人目標(biāo)的報(bào)復(fù)性攻擊 ，并且沒有持久的戰(zhàn)略價(jià)值（盡管它們確實(shí)對(duì)軍事士氣有影響）。盡管記錄了一些顯著的成功，但其中許多失敗并導(dǎo)致重大失敗和人員和物資損失。在戰(zhàn)術(shù)層面上，輕重騎兵或步兵、弓箭手、槍手或長(zhǎng)矛手之間的不同兵種之間的差異似乎有所減少，僅在少數(shù)情況下幸存下來，與帝國維持的精英部隊(duì)有關(guān)。拜占庭軍隊(duì)和阿拉伯軍隊(duì)看起來非常相似。）

????????? Only from the 730s on, during the reign of Leo III (717-41), an emperor from a military background who seized the throne in 717, and more particularly that of his son and successor Constantine V (741-75), a campaigning emperor who introduced a number of administrative reforms in the army and established an elite field army at Constantinople in the 760s, does this situation begin to change. Political stability internally, the beginnings of economic recovery in the later 8th century and dissension among their enemies, enabled the Byzantines to re-establish a certain equilibrium by the year 800. In spite of occasional major defeats (for example, the annihilation of a Byzantine force following a Bulgar surprise attack in 811, and the death in battle of the emperor Nikephoros I) and an often unfavourable international political situation, the Byzantines were able to begin a more offensive policy with regard to the Islamic power to the east and the Bulgars in the north — in the latter case, combining diplomacy and missionary activity with military threats. By the early 10th century, and as the Caliphate was weakened by internal strife, the Byzantines were beginning to establish a certain advantage; and in spite of the fierce and sometimes successful opposition of local Muslim warlords (such as the emirs of Aleppo in the 940s and 950s), there followed a series of brilliant reconquests of huge swathes of territory in north Syria and Iraq, the annihilation of the second Bulgarian empire, and the beginnings of the reconquest of Sicily and southern Italy. By the death in 1025 of the soldier—emperor Basil II 'the Bulgar-slayer' (976-1025) the empire was once again the paramount political and military power in the eastern Mediterranean basin, rivalled only by the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt and Syria.

（只是從730年代開始，在利奧三世(717-41)統(tǒng)治期間，這位有著軍事背景的皇帝于717年奪取了王位，尤其是他的兒子和繼任者康斯坦丁五世(741-75)，他在軍隊(duì)中推行了許多行政改革，并在君士坦丁堡建立了一支精英野戰(zhàn)部隊(duì)，這種情況開始改變了。拜占庭內(nèi)部政治穩(wěn)定，8世紀(jì)后期經(jīng)濟(jì)開始復(fù)蘇，以及敵人之間的不和，使得拜占庭人在公元800年重新建立了某種平衡。盡管偶爾有重大的失敗(例如，811年拜占庭軍隊(duì)在保加利亞奇襲后被殲滅，皇帝尼基佛洛斯一世在戰(zhàn)斗中死亡)，國際政治形勢(shì)往往不利，拜占庭人開始對(duì)東方的伊斯蘭勢(shì)力和北方的保加利亞勢(shì)力采取更具進(jìn)攻性的政策，后者將外交和傳教活動(dòng)與軍事威脅結(jié)合起來。到了10世紀(jì)初，哈里發(fā)因內(nèi)亂而被削弱，拜占庭人開始建立起某種優(yōu)勢(shì);盡管當(dāng)?shù)氐哪滤沽周婇y(如20世紀(jì)40年代和50年代的阿勒頗埃米爾)進(jìn)行了激烈的、有時(shí)甚至是成功的反抗，但隨后出現(xiàn)了一系列對(duì)敘利亞北部和伊拉克大片領(lǐng)土的輝煌收復(fù)，第二保加利亞帝國被殲滅，以及重新征服西西里和意大利南部。1025年，“保加利亞殺手”(976-1025)軍人皇帝巴茲爾二世(Basil II)去世，羅馬帝國再次成為東地中海盆地的最高政治和軍事力量，只有埃及和敘利亞的法蒂瑪王朝(Fatimid Caliphate)能與之匹敵。）

????????? But the offensive warfare that developed from the middle of the 9th century had important effects upon the organisation of the armies. The provincial militias became less suited to the requirements of such campaigning, tied as they had become to their localities and to the seasonal campaigning dictated by Arab or Bulgar raiders. Instead, regular field armies with a more complex tactical structure and more offensive elan developed, partly under the auspices of a new social elite of military commanders who were also great landowners, partly encouraged and financed by the state. Mercenary troops played an increasingly important role as the state began to commute military service in the provincial armies for cash with which to pay them. By the middle of the 11th century, a large portion of the imperial armies was made up of indigenously recruited mercenary units together with Norman, Russian, Turkic and Frankish mercenaries. The successes achieved between r.900 and 1030 were thus based on effective organisation and better resources than in the preceding period. Morale and ideology also played a key role, while the increase in the tactical complexity of Byzantine field armies played a significant part, with the various different types of arms familiar from the late Roman period, which had all but vanished in the period of crisis of the 7th and 8th centuries, reappearing once more. Arab commentators remark on the effectiveness of the Byzantine heavy cavalry 'wedge', employed with, literally, crushing effect in the Byzantine wars with both Muslims and northern foes such as the Bulgars and the Rus' of Kiev.

（但是從9世紀(jì)中葉發(fā)展起來的進(jìn)攻戰(zhàn)對(duì)軍隊(duì)的組織產(chǎn)生了重要影響。省級(jí)民兵變得不太適合這種戰(zhàn)役的要求，因?yàn)樗麄円呀?jīng)與當(dāng)?shù)匾约鞍⒗虮＜永麃喴u擊者所要求的季節(jié)性戰(zhàn)役聯(lián)系在一起。取而代之的是，具有更復(fù)雜的戰(zhàn)術(shù)結(jié)構(gòu)和更具進(jìn)攻性的常規(guī)野戰(zhàn)軍隊(duì)發(fā)展起來，部分是在新的社會(huì)精英軍事指揮官的支持下，他們也是大地主，部分由國家鼓勵(lì)和資助。雇傭軍扮演著越來越重要的角色，因?yàn)閲议_始用現(xiàn)金支付省級(jí)軍隊(duì)的兵役費(fèi)用。到11世紀(jì)中葉，帝國軍隊(duì)的很大一部分是由本土招募的雇傭軍以及諾曼、俄羅斯、突厥和法蘭克雇傭軍組成。 因此，900和1030之間取得的成功基于有效的組織和比前一時(shí)期更好的資源。 士氣和意識(shí)形態(tài)也起到了關(guān)鍵作用，而拜占庭野戰(zhàn)軍隊(duì)?wèi)?zhàn)術(shù)復(fù)雜性的增加起到了重要作用，羅馬晚期熟悉的各種不同類型的武器在羅馬危機(jī)時(shí)期幾乎消失了。7 世紀(jì)和8世紀(jì)，再次出現(xiàn)。阿拉伯評(píng)論家評(píng)論了拜占庭重騎兵“楔形”的有效性，在拜占庭戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)中，它在與穆斯林和北方敵人（如保加利亞人和基輔的俄羅斯人）的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)中發(fā)揮了毀滅性的作用。）

????????? This expansionism had its negative results, however. Increasing state demands clashed with greater aristocratic resistance to tax-paying; political factionalism at court led to policy failures, the overestimation of imperial military strength, and neglect of defensive structures, When Seljuk Turkish raiding parties were able to defeat piecemeal a major imperial force in 1071 and capture the emperor Romanos IV, the empire could offer no organised counter-attack, with the result that central Asia Minor was lost permanently to the empire. Major military and fiscal reforms under the emperors of the Komnenos dynasty (a military aristocratic clan) from 1081 re-established stability and, to a degree, the international position of the empire. While foreign mercenary units continued to play a prominent role, the recruitment of indigenous Byzantine units specialising in a variety of arms restored the ability of the imperial armies to fight external enemies on their own terms. This was partly based on a reformed fiscal administration, on the one hand, and the raising and maintenance of troops on the basis of grants of revenue to certain individuals in return for the provision of trained soldiers, both infantry and cavalry. Increasing western influence, in the form of the introduction of weapons such as the crossbow and the adoption of western heavy cavalry tactics, differentiate this period from the preceding century. But the successes of the new dynasty were relatively short-lived: overexpansion, the loss of Bulgaria and much of the Balkans to what might be called 'nationalist' rebellions, and the collapse of the empire into renewed factional strife in the 1180s and 1190s, laid it open to external threat. This materialised in the form of the fourth crusade. The capture and sack of Constantinople in 1204 and the subsequent partition of the empire among the Venetian and western victors ended the empire's role as a major political and military power, although it survived after the recovery of Constantinople in 1261 and re-establishment of an imperial regime, on an ever smaller territorial scale, until only Constantinople and a few Aegean islands remained. And in 1453 the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet 11 extinguished even this remnant.

（然而，這種擴(kuò)張主義也有其負(fù)面結(jié)果。日益增長(zhǎng)的國家需求與貴族對(duì)納稅的更大抵制發(fā)生了沖突；宮廷的政治派系主義導(dǎo)致政策失敗，高估帝國軍事實(shí)力，忽視防御結(jié)構(gòu)，當(dāng)塞爾柱土耳其在1071年能夠零碎地?fù)魯∫恢е饕牡蹏婈?duì)并俘獲羅馬諾斯四世皇帝時(shí)，帝國無法提供任何有組織的反擊，結(jié)果中小亞細(xì)亞永久地被占領(lǐng)了。1081年在科穆寧王朝（一個(gè)軍事貴族氏族）的皇帝領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下進(jìn)行的重大軍事和財(cái)政改革重新建立了穩(wěn)定，并在一定程度上恢復(fù)了帝國的國際地位。雖然外國雇傭軍繼續(xù)發(fā)揮著突出的作用，但招募專門從事各種武器的本土拜占庭部隊(duì)恢復(fù)了帝國軍隊(duì)以自己的方式與外部敵人作戰(zhàn)的能力。這在一定程度上是基于改革了的財(cái)政管理，一方面是基于向某些人提供訓(xùn)練有素的步兵和騎兵的收入，以提高和維持部隊(duì)。隨著弩等武器的引進(jìn)，以及西方重裝騎兵戰(zhàn)術(shù)的采用，西方的影響越來越大，這一時(shí)期與上個(gè)世紀(jì)有所不同。但新王朝的成功相對(duì)來說是短暫的:過度擴(kuò)張，保加利亞和巴爾干大部分地區(qū)被所謂的“民族主義”叛亂奪走，帝國在11世紀(jì)80年代和19世紀(jì)90年代因派系斗爭(zhēng)而崩潰，這些都讓帝國面臨外部威脅。這以第四次十字軍東征的形式實(shí)現(xiàn)。1204年君士坦丁堡被占領(lǐng)和洗劫以及隨后的帝國在威尼斯和西方勝利者之間的瓜分結(jié)束了帝國作為主要政治和軍事力量的角色，盡管它在1261年君士坦丁堡收復(fù)和重建帝國后幸存下來。政權(quán)，領(lǐng)土規(guī)模越來越小，直到只剩下君士坦丁堡和一些愛琴海島嶼。1453年，奧斯曼帝國蘇丹穆罕默德11世甚至將這些殘余物都熄滅了。）

????????? There are, very roughly, five phases of military development in the history of the Byzantine empire: reconquest and expansion under Justinian in the 6th century; contraction, localisation and a primarily defensive character in the 7th and 8th centuries; consolidation, recovery and a more offensive approach in the period from the 9th to the early 11th century; the breakdown and reform of the structures inherited from the late ancient period during the 11th and 12th centuries, with a brief expansion back into Asia Minor under the emperors Alexios I, John 11 and Manuel until the 1170s; and a final, slow decline as the empire shrank under the effects of, first, the partition which followed the fourth crusade; second, the growth of the power of Serbia in the 14th century; and third, of that of the Ottomans in the 14th and 15th centuries.

（拜占庭帝國歷史上的軍事發(fā)展大致分為五個(gè)階段：6 世紀(jì)查士丁尼統(tǒng)治下的重新征服和擴(kuò)張；7世紀(jì)和8世紀(jì)的收縮、本土化和主要防御特征；從9世紀(jì)到 11世紀(jì)初期的鞏固、恢復(fù)和更具攻擊性的方法；11世紀(jì)和12世紀(jì)從古代晚期繼承的結(jié)構(gòu)的分解和改革，直到1170年代，在亞歷克西斯一世、約翰11和曼努埃爾皇帝的統(tǒng)治下短暫擴(kuò)張回小亞細(xì)亞；第一，隨著帝國在第四次十字軍東征之后的分裂的影響下逐漸萎縮，最終的緩慢衰落；第二，14世紀(jì)塞爾維亞實(shí)力的增長(zhǎng)；第三，是14和15世紀(jì)的奧斯曼帝國。）

未完待續(xù)